Deception
by TwilightZion
Summary: Knowledge is power, everyone knows that and the one that has the most knowledge will be the one that runs the games. Cybertron stands on the brink of war as the golden age is at its end and the system is corrupted by power-hungry individuals that trying to take control. In the heart of the Pits, a new power is rising. T for now. Oc/ Meister(Jazz), and of course the Terror twins.
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT Information:  
**Hello! nice of you to look into this. I began to write this story when I was first introduced to Fan-fiction. So my user name came from this fic. This story will take part after the golden age is ending and at the beginning of the war. The character we all love and know about is still young and inexperienced of the war, but not to the corporation that is the start the whole thing.

**So I will warn you now!** they _will_ be slightly OOC on many things but I will still try and maintain most of their characters. There will be dark moments, angst and gore but also Lemons. Some contents will be a trigger warning on - But I will put up a notice of this before so that you can skip it if you want -

Oh and if you didn't know, I don't own transformers that belong to Hasbro and the rest of the big company.

* * *

~*-Prolog-*~

"Cybertron has fallen from its graze," a silver-white mech said as he looked out over the nightlights of Iacon, the vast buildings that retched up to the sky like silver spears. He strokes the cables that hang freely underneath his chin and let his azure blue gaze travel down to his people that walked around happily unaware of what still was to come.

"There is a parasite that draining our home of its energy and beauty and I will no longer stand for it" the larger mech let his hand rest on the railing in front of it and vented hot air. The soft buzz of life was around them and somewhere the sounds of singing and music could be heard.

"My liege, we are ready to start," a dark husky voice said from behind, the silver one did not move from his spot as he gazed over the city. "Say the word and I will begin"

"Good," the silver mech said and raised his eyes to the sky once again and looked at the three moons that were looking down at them. "Then let us save the planet"

"As you wish, my liege," the dark voice said and grinned, silvery teeth glittered in the dim light that spread across the balcony as he turned around and let the shadows swallow him up.

It was time to clean out the system and make way for a change in power.

It was time to save Cybertron

* * *

There was a rising pressure in the air as a storm was rolling in over the city of Kaon. The storm was likely going to spread its power over them any minute now as the clouds were welling in over them thick as a blanket. Not that it would make any significant difference to the inhabitants of the city. As it was always like they lived under a thick blanket that was made of black smoke and fumes that came from the vast smelt factory in the city center.

Everywhere one may look, they would be met with only gray, black, and a lot of dirt; even then, that was no telling how the fumes smelled. The walls had a different shade of dirty, as did the streets that were more broken down and full of holes and rust than the oldest cybertronian in this district would have in his tank. Every housing unit had windows that no one could even try and look out from as no one had bothered to clean them in eons. Pillar of old scraps was decorated most of the alley in these parts, making the whole picture of the slum a complete one.

In one of the old dirty windows that still had some visibility in then, probably thanks to the small round face structure of a sparkling that was continually sitting in it and looking out. The sparkling was small and femme in the model, she sat there and watched every movement from a few cybertronian who were doing something not far from her residence. Her blue optics followed their actions; it was probably something illegal anyway.

No one had been killed on her street today, not what she had witnessed anyway but she didn't know what had happened out of her view. And to think that her sire in only a breem would walk down that exactly that path where the shady shapes were looming made her small spark speed up. Who could say that he was not the next victim? that he would be the one to die on the street today and paint it already dark ground with his energon?

Raggy ventilation shook her frame from where she sat on the window sill. Her optics gazed up at the sky instead of the street, trying to see what there could be behind the dense dark green clouds that were rolling in over them.

She had already let go of any kind of hope of seeing anything other than the dirty clouds or storms. It always was like this anyway.

There had been only one time she had seen a clear blue sky and it had been the most amazing events. She could almost remember it like it happened yesterday, her carrier was holding her up as her sire let her sit on his shoulder as they waited for the suns to rise. She had remembered all the beautiful colors it had created and it was like she could reach out and grab it with her hands.

That had been the last time they had been doing anything as a whole happy family. The sparkling rested her helm at the cold metal behind her head as she remembered the picture of the sun in her helm. She remembers the feeling of love overwhelming her and her carriers' laughter rang in her mind and was followed with the harsh feeling of longing for something that was forever out of her reach.

The sparkling stretched her arms as far up as she could in the air, feeling the growing pain in her cables stretch and relax as she did so. She was small for her age and thinly built, a clear sign of lack of right nutrition input for over a long time. But her frame still had a clean surface and no damages were visible, which testified that she was always taken care of to the extent that they could. Her eyes were in light blue, which was in contrast to her other pitch-black frame, but her protective armor was thin and could not protect her from the acid that soon would fall upon them.

But at least she had a roof over her head and a creator who loved her.

But one thing was clear, she did not like the acid season; it was that time that everyone stayed in their house units. No, she hated the season, because that meant that she could not sneak out of the house as her sire was working. He was gone for long hours at a time, sometimes even days. So she had since an early age learned to get around in the shadows of the buildings and find things that would entertain her or feed her for the evening. Perhaps she could find one of the old tunnels under the city? she had heard some of the older younglings talk about a place that had a lot of stuff that people had thrown away, or so they said.

"Zion, refueling time" her sires calling voice pierced through her musing

"Coming," she yelled back and looked out the window one last time before she jumped down and walked to the refueling center that was on the first floor of the building where her creator had put a warm cube energon on the table for her to drink. Only reminding her that he once again would be leaving her, he would walk out of here, away from her, and not look back.

She jumped up on her chair and started to sip on the liquid that had the right temperature as she tried to push down the dark feelings that were swirling around in her chest. She looked over to her sire as he put his cube down. Her mood dropped even lower when she saw that he was already ready for work. His thick armor platings were all repaired and buffed out, his head held high and there was power in his steps.

And Zion hated it.

She hated his job with a vengeance, she understood why he had to do it, but she hated it nonetheless. Because it meant that he was away from her and she was left to fend for herself. She couldn't help the heavy feeling now had started to leak out of her and was spreading within her like a thick blob of oil and she sank a little bit more in the chair as she suddenly had lost the last of her appetite. She started at the damn cube and pushed it with her foot as she did not want to touch it and the darkness within her grew as she listening to her sire steps in the other room. She tried to keep it down, she tried to not broadcast it to him over the creation bond, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change his mind.

In her mind, she was counting the minute until he would leave her and go to work and the night would be hers, and hers alone.

By now, she should be used to it, and they needed the credits after all. Even at her young age, she does know the importance of credits. That is what happens when someone was forced to grow up in one of the most corrupt cities on Cybertron. But that did not mean that she liked to be left alone when he worked for so long hours. And not only that, but she also had to worry every day about whether to come home or not, his job _was_ dangerous.

"Come now, sparklet, drink up," Her sire said as he patted her on the helm with a small smile as he walked up behind her.

Zion stared up at him, how could he smile like that always? Like everything would be alright? Like nothing was wrong. How could he know that at the end of his shift, he would come back to her and not leave her as an orphan? Zion was trying to contain her feelings and sadness as the blackness inside of her started to become too much.

But no matter how much she tried, the anxiety and fear were too overwhelming for a little sparkling to handle by herself as it suddenly became too much and started to bubbled over the creators' bond. Her creator vented softly as the feelings hit him and he sat down in front of her chair, stroking away the lubricate that had fallen on her cheeks carefully as he looked down at her as she started to sob.

"Come here little one," his arms closed around her smaller frame, completely blocking out the world around her as she started to cry loudly in his warm embrace. He let all the safe and lovely feelings he could muster for her swell over the creation bond as he rocked her lightly in his arms, and his spark hummed low and steady for her to listening on. He closed his optics and tried to keep away the feelings of guilt that reminded him of it was all his fault that she was like this. He had no one but himself to blame as he let her calm down on her own accord as the sorrow shook her little frame. Sometimes he forgot how young his creation was as she acted so grown up and strong most of the time.

Zion had just been upgraded to her new frame and was still adjusting to it, so these emotions were too much for her to handle right now. In another place or family, the carrier would be home with the young one at least until they hit their second youngling state. His femmling was still on her first, and they were on their own. He had no choice but to leave her. Without credits, they would end up out in the street, and he was certain that she would not survive it, and then he would have nothing more to live for.

But things were starting to change, soon it would be completely different for them. And he had started to climb in the ranks in the gladiator games he was working in. Thanks to a sponsor that was paying him the credits he needed to take care of his little sparkling. And soon he would be able to afford to take better care of her on his own, as soon as he was on the top. She was worth so much more than he ever could give her. Every time he came home and had a chance to look at his creation, to touch her small frame and hear her laughing made it all worth it.

"You know what?" He suddenly asked as she had calmed down slightly " why don't you try and call your uncle and talks to him for a few minutes? " he asked her and smiled; only a few hitches of her ventilation were heard now as she stared in his chassis and nodded slowly.

"We do have to make sure that he is not buried under a mountain of datapads and files, right?" He grinned and stroke her helm "especially with the research he is doing, right?" He smiled as Zion nodded slowly and beeped an affirmative sound as he vocals still had not rested after her wailing.

Her sire slowly released her and kissed her helm as he caressed it "good femme."

He went up to the holophone and put in the right frequents of his brother. To use this phone cost a lot of credits, but he felt that his sparkling needed the cheer up his brother could give her. And a distraction, besides, she did love to hear about his work and the city he lived in. His red optics soften slightly as he looked down at the sparkling when he handled her the device. Seconds later, the device flared into life, and the image of a sizeable Tarnian mech was now visible in the blue shine of the projectors.

"Ah, little one! what a lovely surprise," the mech said with a smile, "I was wondering when you two would be calling me again. it has already been" He looked down at the datapad in his hands and chuckled "3 days since we last spoke"

"Uncle!" Zion squealed as she stood upon the stool to see him better, the sad feeling fast overridden by the simple one of joy. "How are you? Are you all alright? Do you need us to come and look after you? Don't die under the data pads! Please don't die on us!"

All the sad feelings almost started to bubble up to the surface again as the terror of losing her uncle hit her even if she knew it was far fetched but in the state of mind she was in right now, she could lose anyone. He could drop dead at the smallest thing. But as soon as her feelings began to grow out of her control again, her sire put a hand on her helm and was holding them in check for her, and Zion smiled up at him.

The mech on the hologram chuckled. "Slow down there sparklet" her uncle shook his helm in amusement, and she could see how he held out his arm. "look at me, I'm still whole, no datapad had even landed on me this day! and I get to talk to you, so in my book, this day is a complete success."

"Wow! that is good to hear," Zion giggled and looked down at his tiny image, "but do you know what Uncle?! guess what! Guess! come one now, guess"

"Guess what?" her uncle asked and tilted his helm at the sparklings antics as he tried to figure out what he should guess on "you have a new...?" he dragged out the words, even if he did know what she was referring to the sparkling would tell him by herself.

"I got my upgrades," the sparkling cheered, and her sire held her down as she started to jump around on the chair with a massive smile on her. " and I've already grown so much under this dark cycle. So I can open the door by myself! Soon I'll be as big as you and sire."

"Really? you that big already?" The mech asked in fake surprise at the child's glee " if you are anything like your carrier and sire, you will be even bigger than me in no time."

"You think so?" asked Zion, that would be amazing! she loved to be as great as both her sire and uncle

Her sire chuckled as he petted her helm, "but until that, you are my little femmling" he tickled her small frame, and Zion broke down into giggles and tried to swat his arm away.

" We only wanted to say hello and see how you are," Her sire turned his attention to his brother.

"As I said, I'm fine, nothing too worrying about." There was shouting outside the screen, and Zion saw her uncle turn his helm, listening to what the other one said and nodded to someone. "I'm sorry, I have to cut this short," he said apologetically

"That's alright, I will talk to you another cycle, be safe" the transmutation was cut off, and the sparkling vented out but smiled, she was in a much better mood than before.

"Thank you, sire," she said, looking up at him before she looked down in shame. "And I'm sorry."

Her sire shook his head and kissed her helm once again "never say you sorry, alright?, and I will see you in the morning; stay safe sparklet," he told her as he let go of the smaller femme and walked to the door.

" love you too," she whispered to the closing door that shut behind him with a heavy click, it felt as if all the sound had disappeared from the now almost empty house as it all began to quiet down.

Zion stood on the chair and crawled up against the window to follow his form. She leaned so close to the glass that she risked to break it. She watched as his form disappeared behind a corner, and she vented out slowly as she was once again alone. She sat down on the window sill and stared down on the sidewalk, he would come back. But before she was going to sit back down on her chair and drink up the last of her now cold energon a sudden movement caught her attention.

A rumble could be heard from the dark clouds above and she tried to focus her gaze on the blurry creature that had run past her and tried to zoom in her sight on the object. Whatever it was, it had been tiny. As Zion saw the movement a second time, she tilted her head a little to the side; It was not something she usually saw, and that was coming from someone that sat on the window for hours to no end. Maybe it was a poor turbo dog? Or a steel cat? the last animal she had seen had been caught and probably slaughtered by one of the dark mechs she had seen.

_Oh no! _Zion felt dread hit her, not only that, it would start raining soon. And that was not good, if it was an animal then they would not have any protection; they would die. And it would be too cold for them to stay outside.

Zion jumped down from the window and started to run toward the door. She stared up at it and reached for the panel, she had to stand on the tip of her feet to do it but as she touched the pad the door opened and gazed out carefully, afraid to walk out and get caught in the bad weather.

She held the door open only by a few inches, and she could smell the horrible stench of the scraps that laid beside the house and the electric feeling that was all over the place for the coming storm. But as she stood there, she could not see any more movement that she had seen before. Had they already gone away?

There was still some light outside, so it was not quite dark yet, and the wind had started to blow making the scraps vibrating in their pillars. Making an eerie noise and her spark was beating hard, she didn't want to leave the poor animal could out in the stinging acid rain. Zion took a deep soothing breath as she felt her servos shake lightly as she was gripping the door handle and pushed it open.

Slowly Zion opened the door more and more before she began to move outward carefully. She held her hand on it as long as she could., It was harder than she thought to release the handle, her spark pulsed hard in her chest, her optics darted around. Slowly she let go of one finger at a time, and soon she was at the first step, and she took a step down for it and was now on the path. the small femme scanned the area before her, as the constant low rumbling could be heard from the sky, and the air was burning with the scent from the smelter factory.

Slowly, she moved across the now quiet dark road and walked toward the alleyway where she last had seen the movement, hoping that the cyber cat still was there. Because she hoped that it was a cat, she didn't think that her sire would like her to have a turbo dog or fox. She only hoped that it wasn't a glitch mouse.

"Here kitty, kitty," she whispered with static in her voice as she crept closer to the alley, she could hear a metallic drag sound and a hissing.

It was an animal, probably a small and weak thing and perhaps as lonely as she was? She could only hope. Zion let her eyes sweep over the piles of rusty metal and somewhere there she could see the contours of an arm, or maybe it was a leg?. But she let her eyes wander over the piles, not getting caught up in anything special except that she was looking for moves as she sneaked on light feet forward. Just like her sire taught her, on her toes. She did hope that the animal was not hurt or wanted to hurt her for that matter because she didn't think that she could afford a new repair, not after her last update.

Slowly Zion went past a large scrap heap, and she suddenly on pure reflex shrank back with a starlet gasp as an iron pipe whizzed past her helmet, almost hitting her. She let out a frightened scream as she stumbled back and held her hand over her helm to protect it from the pipe.

Oh, scrap, scrap, her sire was going to be so furious with her if he found out what she had been doing. If there even was going to be something left for him to find, she would probably be sold in hundreds of different pieces on the black market.

"G-get away!" A small shaky voice screamed as the pipe was whining past her helm once again and Zion let out a shrill scream as the pipe down again.

"Wait!"

* * *

**A/N**

So what do you think? it is only the beginning and the first 4 or 5 chapters will be an introduction to the story. And a gentle reminder. I have no beta, sorry for that :( but if you want to help me, then send a PM! I would love some help because English is my second language ^^

**Page count:** 8


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaiming: Don't own the transformers, only the OC and the plot.

_Oh, scrap, scrap, her sire was going to be so furious with her if he found out what she had been doing. If there even was going to be something left for him to find, she would probably be sold in hundreds of different pieces on the black market. _

_"G-get away!" A small shaky voice screamed as the pipe was whining past her helm once again and Zion let out a shrill scream as the pipe down again._

"_Wait!"_

This had been a bad idea, a really scraping bad idea from the start, why did she do it again?.

She held her arms up and over her helm to protect it and was currently tucked in like a small ball with har platings standing out in an attempt to protect herself from the blows that probably would soon rain down on her.

Any minute now.

Soon.

The cold squeezing feeling made her intake shutter and her spark pulsed hard in her small frame as she waited for the pain, it was almost like her spark was trying to escape its holding.

But it nave came.

Slowly she peeks between her arms up at her attacker and the pipe that was still hanging in the air over her but it was not moving and she let out a beeping sound before she saw her chance to pull away as fast as she could. And when she could she was fast upon her pedes and her whole frame was rattling but if there was one thing she had learned from her sire it was to never turn her back to an enemy if you didn't wish for a sword in your back.

Zion took another quick step back to put some more distance between them as her eyes finally started to take her attacker in. One thing was very clear, this one was not a cyber animal. As soon as she had taken the first step back, the other one came soon after. Her optics never leaving the danger in front of her and she raised her arms in a defensive position before her and ignoring the fact that her arms were trembling.

A click ticked by, then two, and no one of them moved.

Stared at the owner of the voice and waited for him to make the first move and then when he didn't do anything she shifted her gaze from him to the movement that was behind him. The sound of rattling metal, that was not coming from her was obvious and slowly her processor started to relax, slightly as she noticed that either moved. They only stared at each other and taking in the other's appearance, she noticed that the one before her was smaller than she was actually. And she was small to her age, at only 6.7ft they surly was a good ft under. Zion let her arms slowly fall beside her but she was still on edge if they would try something like that again.

"You are not a kitty," the words left her vocals before she could think of stopping them, making them flinch but she ignored it and gave away a frustrating groan. Why could she simply not have found a turbo cat? or even a glitch-mouse? this was not what she had wanted to find!

Zion looked down on the two frames before her, they had dark dirty frames and bright blue optics that was perhaps a little bit too bright for the moment. The one in front stood protective over the smaller ones in the back, with arms still shaking but his eyes were hard and determined. If she gave him, and she was certain that it was a mech, then he would protect the smaller one behind him.

"N...no we not! "The one with the iron pipe said as he moved slightly to the side, completely hiding the smaller one on the ground as he had seen her looking that way.

"n-n...now get away from us!" the bright and squeaky voice shook vigorously at the end of his words as it was now clear how frightened he was

Zion let her optics flick uneasy from the pipe to the small mech, although he tried to show himself strong, he failed completely now when she had calmed down from the scare he had given her. They were just ordinary drones, perhaps someone had gotten tired of them and thrown them out for their demise?. Zion halted in her thinking, they had talked back to her, but didn't that mean that they were not drones? drones could only do as you ordered them and were not smart enough to think of their own.

She gasped in surprise and stared at them as the information sank in. The smaller mech shifted again uneasy as he didn't like the reaction she had given them and he gave away a low growling sound in a warning. Daring her to try anything.

"you are sparklings!" She gasped out and started to giggle " like me!" how could she not have seen it? it made perfect sense! But why were they here in this district? she had never seen them before.

" Where are your creators? why are you here? are you lost? you know that there is a storm coming right?" she asked bubbly and looked around if she could see them anywhere but came up with nothing, surely they were not here alone? right?.

The femme turned back her optics at the two sparkling and when they did not answer her and instead had backed away from her making her tilt her helm to the side curiously. She had no idea if they were brothers or if they had teamed up to survive the harsh street of kaon. But she was thinking that they really were brothers, but why were they alone?

Now when she could see them better and he did not swing the pipe in her face she noticed a few things. Both of them were full of scratches and dents, both new and old. Their optics was dimmed and it apparently was a huge effort for both of them to even stand by the swaying of the mech in front to judge. But the stubbornness shone through his eyes and they both stayed on their feet even if the smaller one hide behind the one with the rod.

"None of...your business" the mech with the pipe hissed at her as she started to get more bravely as they only stood there.

"oh," she said and blinked before it started to sink in a little bit more, they were too young to survive on the street on their own, and with no creators, they would be dead within the next few hours. The storm not helping with it. A rumble from the sky made Zion look up at it as the clouds were now dark gray and she could see the green in it. soon the lightning would begin and then the acid rain. She had to get inside soon. But that would also mean that teas two sparklings would be outside and probably not make it through the dark cycle. And could she live with that? really live with it?

"You know what?" she asked and looked at them "Why don't you both come home with me, I was about to refuel and you seem to need a little too and it looks like an acid storm is coming in and I really hate storms, and to be alone, and if you stay here someone can come and stab you in the back... and yeah... that would be bad, right?" she said, smiling weakly at them both as they now looked at her with a strange expression on their faces and with clearly deep distrust in their optics.

Zion slowly began to back out from the ally and pointed to her house that was the only one with an open door.

"I live there, come," she said as she started to walk tower the house. She stopped on the stairs to see two pairs of optics follow her with their eyes but they did not move. Zion went upstairs and opened up the door more and looked over her shoulders again both sparklings looked around the corner at her. She waved to them and then a new rumble was heard and she saw them looked at each other with distress.

Zion walked nervously inside, would they come? would she have done it if their roles were reversed? perhaps, but she left the door slightly open. Maybe they won't follow her but she really, really, hoped that they did.

Ragged ventilation broke the other silent room and however much she wanted it, she couldn't force them. A new softer rumbling sound that came from direct over them and gave the sparkling one last warning before heavy, green, and purple drops started to fall from the sky.

Sion walked over to the refuel station and stared up at the large machine and pulled a chair up beside it. There were a lot of buttons and she stood on her toes to push the green one. A buzzing noise filled the kitchen and was followed by the soft sound of pouring energon in one of the cubes that were waiting to be used. Lukewarm energon shimmered down the containment as she put a second one underneath it with a small smile on her lips as the sweet smell filled the air.

She didn't need to look back if the other two had followed her, she could hear them and outside the window the rain pouring down hard soon followed by lightning and a bang.

The soft clicking sound of a door closing made her final look over her shoulder to see that the mechs had followed her inside. And a jolt of joy shot through her and she held in the childish glee that was filling her up. and she was suddenly glad that the creator's bond was dampened. The largest of the brothers still stood in front of the smaller ones protectively, his optics shining with pure distrust.

Zion climbed down from the chair and put the two warm cubes on the table and pulled the chair back before she patted its surface.

"Sit, you must be really hungry," she said, and climbed onto her chair before pulling her own, now cold, energon, and took a sip from it humming happily.

The two sparkling slowly walked over to the chair and with a little help from each other they got upon its surface. The larger one looking at her the whole time and then touched the energon, he put a finger in it before he lifted it to his lips and tasted it. The smaller one looked up hopefully and when the larger one didn't say anything other than pushing one of the cubes to him, he took it and tasted it on his own. A small sound came from him as he drank the warm energon, and before either of them knew it, they were full-time occupied with the liquid.

Zion smiled as she slowly drank her liquid in silence and the only sound was the storm and her legs that waved in the air. She was finished first of them and leaned back satisfied.

"Oh, I'm Zion. What is your designation?" she asked curiously, "I can't call you thing one and thing two, right?"

The two sparklings looked at each other in silence and the larger of them shook his helm at a negative motion while the other one crossed his arms stubbornly. Zion looked them over, it was like they were communicating without words. So she must have been right in that they are indeed brothers.

A vent was heard from the larger one before he glared up at her like it was all her fault whatever decision they had reached.

"Fine" he grumbles as his brother smiled happily and raised his hand as a greeting

" I'm Sideswipe, thank you for not killing us!" he said and felt so much better now with warm food in his tank "and this is my brother, Sunny"

"I can tell her my name myself, I don't need you to do it and it is Sunstreaker" the newly named Sunstreaker growled as he looked down irritated at his brother and them up at her "What do you want?"

The femmling blinked in surprise and tilted her helm slightly "Want?"

"Yeah, nothing comes without a price," Sunstreaker said as he narrowed his optics on her.

It was obvious that he didn't trust her and now he thought she wanted something from them? would they accept that she didn't want anything? perhaps not. She looked them over as she processed the whole situation and smiled when she finds the perfect payment.

" You are right" she hummed with a smile and both of the brothers suddenly went ridge. "You are going to keeping me company for as long as I want it. That can count as enough payment, right?" she asked them

The brothers looked at her now in shock. It was Sunstreaker that was first to move and shook his helm, that was too simple, she could not be serious with that payment."No that is not enough, energon is expensive, and you sheltering us for the storm" he pointed out. Was she glitched?

"True" she tapped her chin. "Well, why won't you be my kittens then?" she asked with an amusing glint in her eyes and grinned.

"What?"

"Yeah, that way I can feed you and you can have a roof over your head and I don't have to be alone and I can take care of you" That was one of the best ideas she ever had have! "Exactly like a kitty"

The smaller one stared up at his brother with open mouths and then back at her. "You...want to own us? like... pets?" he gaped at her.

She gave away a small laugh and shook her helm. "Well if you put it like that, you make it sound so bad..." she pouted, she had thought that it was an extremely good idea. But he was sadly right, so she pondered on the question some before leaning forward, and then she shook her head. She could not think of anything.

"I do believe that your company will be enough payment as it is, my creator is at work most of the nights and sometimes a few days at the times and I hate being alone. " she hummed and tried to compromise, she had heard her father do it a lot of times in the market. " Perhaps you can only recharge here, we can share energon in the evening, it _is_ more fun that way. And in the morning you can go out on your own. My sire won't know anything! so he can't be mad at us or anything" That was the best thing she could think about.

"But you don't know _us_" Sunstreaker argued stubbornly but she could see that he was thinking about it. "we can be here to hurt you and steal everything that you have"

Zion snorted at that and held in a laugh "you could not hurt me even if you tried, my creator has been teaching me to fend for myself "she held up her arms in a slow-motion in front of her. "I'm strong, you know!" the smaller sparkling giggled at her dramatically gesture. Not even mention her action only an hour before

"And besides, there is nothing here to steal" she shrugged as she waited for him to protest some more.

"But your carrier?"

Zion let her arm fell and she shook her helm "my carrier is gone, it is just me and sire and he works often, like all the time"

"Oh, sorry" he actually sounded a little regretful but didn't say anything else

Outside the window the storm was now raging at its fullest, bolts of electricity flew over the dark green sky and the sound was nearly deafening. the Boom made the smaller one, Sideswipe, curler more into himself as the older one looked down at him as he held his arm over his shoulder protective.

"Alright, but only for this dark cycle," Sunstreaker said low, none of them wanted to be out in this weather and they would probably not survive it anyway if they did go out now. And he was tired.

Zion grinned at them both as they agreed "Yes! let's do this" she jumped down from the chair and run back to the stairs. "Come on, let me show you my room. You will love it! I have so many blankets and pillows and a lot of crystals that shine in the dark" she squealed as they all made their way up as she left the two brothers to stare after her. Both unsure what they had started and if it was such a good idea to follow her.

But as another bolt of lightning lit up the dark world outside so they decided it was much better inside.

One night turned into two that then stretched to several and before any of them they know it the time had flown and six deca-cycle (month) had gone by.

They had ended up in some sort of daily routine.

Zion's creator went to work. Zion left the door unlocked and open so the twins could sneak in and share the energy and then move up to the upper floor where they could all have a better view of the outside and it felt safer. And they would recharge together, at first, the brothers would take the floor and a blanket but soon they were laying in her bed and they all were curling up to each other like cats and sometimes a low content rumbling sound could be heard from one or all three of them as they recharged together.

It was the best thing that ever had happened to Zion and her sire had still not caught up to them as the twins would be long gone before he woke up, sometimes her sire had been home in the morning and she had thought that he would say anything, but he didn't.

But this day was different.

Zion had watched her creator came home late in the day and then been in deep recharge the whole cycle and the day after. She had tried to wake him up sometime in the middle of the day, but without any success and it scared the living primus out of her and it had gone so far that she had been thinking of running after the medic. Scrap the payment. she would figure something out. but before she could do it he had walked down the stairs and acted as if nothing had happened.

She was not buying it. Zion has studied him all day long as he moved around the house, following him with a watchful gaze as he walked past her. She didn't say anything, she was scared, angry and so frustrated.

Right foot then left again and then he made a limping step. She could literally hear the low complaining noise that came from somewhere around his hip joints and then some wires shot small sparks in his thighs. She was silent the whole time, she was not stupid. He had been badly injured and considering that he was still not completely repaired, and considering that he not only slept through a whole day, his repair system had not been healing him. Or his injuries had been so grave that it indeed healed him and he only hides the full extent of it from her.

But it made one thing painfully clear, he could have died.

"Do you have to go today?" she asked for the first time that evening speaking to him as he stood by the energy charger as he looked down into the tank with a humming sound coming from his vocals. "Yes"

"You are still injured" Zion continued

"It's just a scratch"

"No"

"Yes, I'm okay sparklett"

"You limping"

"It is only a notch in the cables, it disappears after a while, nothing of importance"

"You recharge for a whole day"

"Zion ..." her sire vented out entirely of the conversation, sometimes she had too much of her carrier temper. And perhaps his too. Probably a bad combo, but to lat for that.

"Megatron…." she stared at him stubbornly as he now looked up at her with a frown at his sparkling. "What? I thought we said the obvious"

Megatron shook his helm as he snorted and closed the lid, who was he kidding, she was mostly his anyway. "Sparkling, stop that snarkiness you have got there, It doesn't suit you "

"Sorry, can't do, it's in my codes" Zion chipped and crossed her arms in front of her as she tried to look bigger than she was and turned her helm up as she stared stubbornly at him.

Megatron vented out in a low chuckling sound. " I swear to Primus below that you are more and more like you carrier because that " He poked her under her chin. " that position is not in my codes, that _I_ can promise you," he said and started up the machine that now gave away a new low humming sound before it beeped.

"So, sparkling, do we need to talk about how much energon is costing? you drinking like you were in your adult frame. " he looked down at the sparkling that had stiffened and he took in her reaction with a mild interest " or is it perhaps something that you need to tell me?"

Zion moved a little bit uncomfortable in her chair. "No, not really?"

"Nice try, try again and with the truth this time" The energon had run out way too fast and he suspected it wasn't because of her upgrades. Although she had grown a lot lately and he had his suspicions of why but he wanted to see what she would say.

Zion bit down on her inner lip and looking away from him, there was no way she could tell him about Sides and Sunny, he would not approve, but then again she could not lie to him. What would he do if he knew? she looked up at him carefully and looked away again as he was staring down at her, waiting.

"Alright," think, _think,_ what could she say? what could she do? but then the idea hit her" I took in two strays cats"

Megatron blinked in surprise, that she had taken an extra round of energy he could understand, but that she would give it to a couple of animals? it was new. And he didn't believe it to be the whole truth, but he was somewhat impressed that she could so fast bend the truth and tell it to him with a straight face. Perhaps there still was hope for his creation.

"Why would you do that?" he asked her, playing along with her choice of a lie.

Zion looked away, staring into the wall beside him before she looked down at her feets "Cause I'm lonely," she muttered low.

Megatron stared at her and she could feel the weight of his eyes on her before he gave made an exasperating sound, as his frame slumped a bit and he rubbed his neck. _Ugh_, the guilt was starting to nag him in the rear. She didn't tell the whole truth, so much he knew. But then again, she was right, he knew that she was lonely.

And he had seen a small difference in her lately, she was not as emotionally unstable or would beg him to stay home. At first, he thought she finally had gotten used to it. But what if it had to do with these 'animals'? it probably had it. Megatron vented out, defeated, he could not deny her this.

"Okay"

Zion's bones quickly shot up "Okay?" she asked carefully, not sure that she had heard right.

"You may keep these 'animals' of yours," said the Megatron and walked toward the door "but you must also try to come up with another way to support them. We do not have such a quantity of energon to support them. You need to find a way on your own" he did trust her to take care of hit herself.

"I promise! We'll do it... I mean…. yes_ I_ will do it ! Alone, It can't be that hard, right?" She quickly straightened up and smiled big at him as he gave her a grandiose look and shook her head amusingly.

"I have to go now, make sure not to stay up too long tonight," he said, and the door slammed behind him again.

Zion stood up and saw him disappear along the road and not until his form was completely gone, she jumped down from the chair and ran to the door. She put out her head and looked around before she heeded back in, not closing the door after her because she knew that the twins would come in any second now.

Darkness had fallen upon them like it always did. Zion was sitting in her usual place by the window and she was now sure that she had made a permanent hole in it. She was slowly chewed on a rusty stick she had, but it didn't taste right or gave her the sugar rush she usually got from the candy. Her eyes were fixed on the dark outside and the gray clouds that adorned the sky in rolling waves from the factories and she could not see a single movement outside, it was a quiet night.

Both of the brothers were with her but sleeping. Or so she had thought.

"you are worried" Sunstreaker low voice broke through her thoughts. Not that he needed to speak low, when sides were in deep recharge, not even the acid lightning would wake him up.

"was it that bad?"

"He limped and I could see several cables that were worn out of his waist, he tried to hide it but he recharged almost all day," she said quietly, holding back the tearing sensation that wanted to penetrate her spark. "He has never been hurt, what if ... what if he does not come home?"

"I wouldn't worry if I were you, your sire seems to know what he is doing," Sunstreaker said as he walked up to the window sill and raised himself on the opposite side of her.

Zion pulled back her legs so he could fit up there together with her, they did this sometimes and she had begun to look forward to their small talk.

"Tell me about the Gladiatorial game," Sunstreaker asked her and Zion looked for a second a little bit surprised.

"Why?"

"So that I can fight in it, of course, why ells?"

Zion shook her helm "you would not even survive to the entrance, it is brutal, or so my Sire says at least"

Sunstreaker was silent for a long while and Zion looked out the window as she rested her helm at the cold glass that separated the inside from the cold night that was upon them. They had been talking about a different way to earn credits for and so far they had come up with nothing, but she was right, as they were now they could not survive the games.

"Please, tell me about it?"

Zion drew her gaze from the outside and looked at the larger of the brothers before shrugging lightly. "It's not so much to say about it, it's a game that is about survival, two enter and only one is left alive"

"But... It isn't that easy, right" he wonders low and stared intensely at her

Zion refuses to look at Sunstreaker and let her arms hug her knees tightly at her chest as she rested her chin on them "Not always, they bots are mostly there voluntary because they can win a really huge amount of credits and sometimes the city-dales is sending bots who had broken the law in some way or the other is there as punishment. The last chance to survive, or offlining"

"and your creator comes home day after day from that?" he asked with a low tone of envy in his voice "he must be their champion, he has to be the best of them all! "

Zion smiled a little as he praised her creator, glad that someone more than her saw how incredible her creator was. "He has always been a champion, nothing can stop him when he gets into it" She made a wide move with her arm

"You should have heard the first time he stood in the stadium, I snuck up on one of the taller buildings next to the stadium. I couldn't see that much but I could hear the voices echo in the arena .. 'Til all are one... 'Til all are one" Zion giggled in excitement as she jumped up at the window sill "And after that, I could hear bots talk about this awesome match where the winner had held his ax high above his head and screamed out his victory" She held her arm up over her helm as she imagines her sire did as he won his first big game.

"And then Cade found me and told my sire and I was grounded" she vented dramatically as she sat down with a huff "But it was worth it"

"Cade?"

"Barricade, one of them who workaround in the Pit with my sire and sometimes he acted as my sitter when I was only sparkling, but not anymore" she smiled and let one leg hang down as the other one served as her resting place.

"So, are you Kaonian?" Sunny asked as he tried to fight the recharging program.

"Nope" she smiled at him, she enjoyed their little night chats, he was always so serious all other times. " My Sire and I are original from Tarn so was my Carrier, So I guess I'm Tarnian? but I'm raised here so I don't know how to call it " she said as she smiled

"And you? do you know?"

Sunstreaker looked out of the window and nodded "Kaon"

"Huh, not that it matters, you are you," she said and bumped into his leg "We'll fix this, tomorrow we go into the center and check for work. Don't worry about it kitten, I will never send you out, I do own you right" she grinned teasing.

Sunstreaker growled playfully and kicked her, making Zion laugh.

"Don't fight" Sides groggy voice echoing from the bed before a clang was heard and his helm hit the metal once again. Making them both giggles in amusement and Zion looked over to Sunny

" you heard him" she grinned "No fighting"

Sunny growled again but could not hide the smile that was on his lips. This had been the best decision they had made and tomorrow was a new day and they would be fine. Everything started to plan out for them as they both crawled back into bed and huddled together. And the last thought Sunstreaker was thinking were the famous words that no one should be thinking. If only Sunstreaker hadn't jinxed them.

_It was like nothing could go wrong._


End file.
